Pensacola's port and manufacturing facilities played an active role in supporting America's effort in World War I, and historian John Appleyard is preparing a book which includes photos from that era.

The global conflict that was idealistically called "The War to End All Wars" coincided with a new era for Pensacola's military heritage in 1914. Although the war ended four years later, the bond that this community forged with the military remains.

"The first contingent of Naval aviation candidates arrived in January 1914, and by 1917 the infrastructure and methods for preparing pilots and others needed were in place," said John Appleyard, a Pensacola historian who has been chronicling his hometown's role in the war.

"It almost seemed as though fate favored Pensacola when World War I began and then brought the United States into the conflict. The community had hosted a Navy yard from 1826, but it had been declared obsolete and closed in 1911," Appleyard said.

The war boosted Pensacola's long-term role in Naval aviation and contributed to an important period of growth as a port and shipbuilder.

But in August 1914, when the war began in Europe, pitting iconic empires against each other, Pensacolians and most other Americans paid only slight interest. Instead, the big news hereabout that summer focused on the failures of the Bank of Pensacola and what was then First National Bank.

"When war began in Europe, the Pensacola business climate remained optimistic," says Appleyard's lengthy research paper, which he may pursue as a book. A relative calm prevailed locally. Indeed, the citizenry could rejoice that there hadn't been a serious fire since 1905. Further, the legal system operated competently, without, as Appleyard noted, "recent recurrence of the lynchings of 1908-09."

Meanwhile, a new electric streetcar system offered convenience. Europe's war seemed far away.

Calm before the storm

Pensacolians, like other Americans, received their share of propaganda from Great Britain and France, but also from their German enemies.

"Even as war clouds darkened for the United States, the local population sustained a rising social life," Appleyard wrote. The 1917 planning for Pensacola's version of Mardi Gras was lauded by its promoters as "the best ever." Lodges and social clubs such as the Knights of Columbus and Masons had growing memberships. The new Rotary Club boasted more than 60 members.

Also by 1917, the new Motor Sales Company on Palafox Street was selling Chevrolets for $550. Anderson Motors advertised Fords for $300.

All this calm before the storm of war gave little hint of the commitment Pensacola would soon make. The area's involvement included 1,869 men and women serving in the Army, Navy and Coast Guard. Of the 824 Pensacolians who served in the Army, 11 died and 30 were wounded.

A total of 520 served in the Navy, and nine were reported dead. No information on branch's wounded is available.

But in early 1917, with President Woodrow Wilson about to start his second term, the L&N Railroad was advertising round-trip tickets from Pensacola to his inauguration for $30.45.

By March 1917, news accounts gave rise to new concern and awareness about American ships being sunk by German U-boats. On April 4, Wilson sent a war resolution to Congress, which approved it a vote of 373 to 50. The Pensacola City Commission quickly voted its support of Wilson's action.

Yet neither Pensacola nor the Navy here was prepared. Appleyard wrote, "there had been no recruiting campaign, men began flooding officials seeking to enlist. With no prepared plan, the Navy began housing the recruits in the Masonic Hall, and the halls of the Knights of Columbus and Odd Fellows."

Congress passed the first selective service legislation since the Civil War in May. Pensacola leaders focused on practicality close to home: city and county commissioners voted resolutions asking residents to "Plant All You Can" as potential food shortages became a worry.

Pensacolians responded patriotically. Two thousand men soon registered for the draft from an area population of about 42,000. To promote enlistments, a large public barbecue was staged at Pensacola Beach with the slogan, "Don't wait to be drafted. Enlist now."

Near the end of April 1917, the Navy announced that 100 aviators would leave for European assignment, led by Lt. Kenneth Whiting. The Pensacola YMCA backed them with the slogan, "We're with your boy over there."

Local commerce continued to show strength despite the war. In June, a new Studebaker car dealership opened.

With less fanfare, prostitutes became a growing presence. Appleyard wrote that "some teenage girls" were attracted to Pensacola by the "arrival of young Navy men." A police sweep resulted in the arrests of more than 150 women, Appleyard's research found, and "arrangements were made to be sure most left the city."

As reports during the summer of 1917 that America's share of the fighting overseas had intensified, the enthusiasm for military enlistment eroded, and law enforcement arrested 85 men who who refused or did not appear as required for their induction physical exams.

Also in August, the base that is now Pensacola Naval Air Station elevated the numbers of men to be trained in balloons; 16 were scheduled for that month. By the end of 1917, nearly 500 men had been designated as fixed-wing aviators at the base.

In the civilian community, commercial messages attracted attention in the fall of 1917. Appleyard found that the B&B Restaurant offered a 50-cent Thanksgiving dinner, and two shops marketed oysters at 75 cents per hundred. Clutters Music House priced basic pianos at $150.

"By March 1918, Pensacolians were fitting well into the wartime pattern," Appleyard wrote. "A new class of draftees was being examined, and the first black men were being called, examined and readied for camp."

Later in 1918, the Naval Air Station was named the service's "advance flying school." The base also became involved in designing and building new aircraft. Training expanded to aerial gunnery, bombing, navigation, photography, signaling and radio, among other specialties.

The armistice ending the war was signed on Nov. 11, 1918. But by then, Pensacola Naval Air Station had expanded from 40 officers and 239 enlisted men to 438 and 5,559 such personnel respectively. The number of planes at the base grew to 215 from 39. And 921 aviators had been trained.

"From the initial training death in 1914 to the end of the war, there were 25 men killed in flight" at the base, Appleyard wrote. Of those, 18 came in the war's final 10 months amid greater pressure to speed up graduations.

Pensacola's culture had been changed forever, Appleyard said.

"The songs of wartime gradually faded from memory," he wrote. "Uniforms were stored away, and for all who returned there might be profit from lessons learned."

Among those, Pensacola and the Navy confirmed they could count on each other.